How to use the sketch maker
- Find out who issues your permit and open their checklist. The BC Permit Finder names the building department for your address, and the table below links each city’s own checklist. Around Duncan this matters: the City of Duncan, North Cowichan and the CVRD are three different authorities with three different rule sets.
- Measure the deck you have in mind. You need the length along the house, how far it comes out, and the height of the walking surface above the ground. If the ground slopes, note the biggest drop and ask the building department how they want it shown.
- Pick one unit system and a sheet size. The whole set is drawn in imperial or in metric, never mixed. Tabloid 11 × 17 in. is the default because it is the minimum North Cowichan and Nanaimo publish. 24 × 36 in. is Saanich’s maximum and the size Nanaimo’s plan checklist prefers. 36 × 48 in. is Duncan’s full-size set, unless the building official allows smaller. Letter is for looking only.
- Enter the layout you (or your designer) chose. Ledger or freestanding, which way the joists run and how far apart, how many beams and posts. The tool draws them where you say. It doesn’t check them.
- Type the member sizes as labels. If you don’t know them yet, leave the boxes blank; they print as blank lines. Sizes come from the BC Building Code’s Part 9 span tables or from an engineer, not from this page. Our Duncan deck guide lists the code sections a reviewer looks at.
- Add stairs and guards. Left and right mean as you stand in the yard facing the house. Type the number of risers yourself; the sketch draws that many.
- Fill in the site plan, or leave it for pencil. With lot and house sizes from your survey or title plan, the tool draws the lot, house and deck to scale and works out the distances to the lot lines from your numbers. Add easements, rights-of-way, watercourses and trees by hand. Saanich also wants geodetic grades by a BC land surveyor, which no sketch tool can supply.
- Read the prompts. A hot tub, a roof, or joist spacing over 600 mm (24 in.) shows “engineer likely required”. A walking surface over 1,800 mm shows that the guard must be 1,070 mm and that you should ask the building official about engineering. A Vancouver address shows that the City asks for a Schedule B if there is structural work. Each prompt links its source. No prompt is an approval.
- Download and print at 100%. Then hold a ruler to the print-check bar in the footer. It should measure exactly 1 in. (or 25 mm in a metric set). If it doesn’t, the printer scaled the page and the drawing is no longer to scale.
- Take it in, then get proper drawings. Bring the sketch to a pre-application conversation, or hand it to a designer as a brief. The drawings you submit have to meet your city’s checklist, and for some cities that means professionally drafted, unmarked plans.
What each sheet shows
- Site plan: lot lines, the house and the deck with distances to the lot lines, a north arrow and a scale bar. Or a blank box with a checklist to sketch in by hand.
- Deck plan: the outline with dimensions, the ledger or freestanding beam line, joists at your spacing, beams, posts and footing locations, stairs with their width, guard lines, a north arrow and a legend of your labels.
- Side elevation: grade, the walking-surface height, the house wall, posts, the guard and the stairs, all to scale.
- Cross-section: a schematic cut from footing to guard (footing, post, beam, joist, decking, guard and ledger) carrying your labels. It is marked not to scale.
- Title block on every sheet: owner, site address, legal description, date, “drawn by (owner)”, sheet number, sheet size and scales, and a blank 2 × 3 in. box for a city stamp. Vancouver’s e-permit rules ask for a stamp space at least that size (Vancouver e-permit rules).
- On every sheet and on the preview: a diagonal watermark over each view, a solid banner along the top edge and the same words in the title block: “BASIC SKETCH, NOT OFFICIAL PLANS, NOT APPROVED FOR CONSTRUCTION”. The footer repeats that your building department or an engineer decides what’s acceptable and that this is not engineering advice.
Plans and elevations are drawn at 1/4 in. = 1 ft (1:50 in metric). If the deck is too big for the sheet, the tool drops to 3/16 in. or 1/8 in. = 1 ft (1:100) and prints the scale it used. Site plans use 1/8 or 1/16 in. = 1 ft (1:100, 1:200 or 1:250). A deep lot on an 11 × 17 sheet may drop to 1/32 in. = 1 ft (1:500), with a note on the sheet, so pick a larger sheet if your city names a scale.
What each city publishes about deck drawings
Taken from each city’s own documents. “Not published” means we couldn’t find it there, so ask the building department. The same data drives the city panel in the tool (JSON).
Printing a large sheet
Many home printers can’t print 11 × 17 in., and 24 × 36 in. or 36 × 48 in. sheets need a large-format printer at a print or copy shop. Send the PDF and ask for it printed at actual size (100%), not “fit to page”. The PDF is vector, so large sheets stay sharp and the file stays small. When you get the prints back, check the 1 in. (25 mm) bar and one scale bar with a ruler before you rely on any measurement.
Real submissions have their own print rules. Duncan’s bylaw asks for paper and PDF with two full-size sets, and the CVRD asks for two hard-copy sets plus a PDF (table above). Those rules are for the drawings you submit, not for this sketch.
What this tool won’t do
- It won’t size or check any joist, beam, post, footing, ledger fastening or span, and it has no pass or OK marks.
- It doesn’t check zoning, setbacks, site coverage or height limits. Your numbers are drawn as typed.
- It can’t produce sealed engineering, truss layouts or surveyed grades.
- It doesn’t send your entries anywhere. They stay in this browser’s storage on your device until you clear them.
Frequently asked questions
Can I submit these sketches with my permit application?
No. It is a planning sketch, and every sheet says BASIC SKETCH, NOT OFFICIAL PLANS, NOT APPROVED FOR CONSTRUCTION. Nanaimo asks for a PDF with no watermarks and Victoria accepts only plans prepared to professional drafting standards, so a marked sketch would not meet those rules. Take it to the permit counter or to a designer, and submit drawings that meet your city’s checklist.
Does the tool size my joists, beams or footings?
No. You type every member size and it prints as a label. Nothing is calculated, suggested or checked. Sizes come from the BC Building Code span tables or from an engineer, and the building official has the final say.
Why can’t I turn the watermark off?
Because the output is a sketch of your own idea, not official or approved plans. The watermark is built into each sheet’s drawing so a clean copy can’t be made, and it also appears in the edge banner and the title block.
When does it say an engineer is likely required?
For a hot tub on the deck, a roofed deck, or joist spacing over 600 mm (24 in.). For a walking surface over 1,800 mm it says the guard must be 1,070 mm and to ask the building official about engineering. For Vancouver it notes the City’s Schedule B requirement when there is structural work. It never sets a height cut-off of its own.
Is my information saved or sent anywhere?
It is saved only in your browser’s local storage on this device, so it is still there when you come back. Nothing is sent to this site or anyone else. Use Clear my entries to remove it.
What sheet size does Duncan want?
Duncan’s building bylaw (s.8.2) asks for paper and PDF, with two full-size sets at 36 x 48 in., unless a building official says smaller sets or electronic-only submission is fine. Ask about a deck before you print.
Independent information only. This guide is a planning aid, not legal, engineering or building-code advice. Codes and bylaws change, and the building official for your address has the final say. Confirm every requirement before you design, apply or dig.
